Beside the Littlest Person
by Angela Evil
Summary: Adopted by SophiaC; Gravity Falls AU w/ Mabel as the main protag. Ghost!Dipper. 'Minor' angst, pre-gf prologue. "Ever since Mabel was little, like the littlest a person could ever be, she had some beside her. Other people couldn't see him but he was there... when she would go to sleep, he'd whisper a promise in her ear; "I'm not going anywhere Mabes," " T for mild lang and violence


**Edit 1/16/16: Fixed spelling/grammar issues, don't get to excited.**

 **This is a one-shot pending adoption or effort. Read details at the bottom of the story if you want...**

 _ **Prologue**_

Ever since Mabel was little, like the littlest a person could ever be, she had someone beside her. Other people couldn't see him but he was there. They ate together, played together, talked about all the hard thing in Mabel's school together, and when she would go to sleep, he'd hold her hand and whisper a promise in her ear; "I'm not going anywhere Mabes," her own personal body guard to ward off all her nightmares. They were never apart, except when she insisted he stay out of the bathroom as they got older, but he would be there when she came out, a dumb grin on his face, leaning casually against the wall.

Once Mabel had been thinking about how close they were, both in age and appearance. She asked. "We're twins, dumb dumb," he chuckled, ruffling her hair.

"But… what's your name?"

They stared for an eternity, every time he opened his mouth to say something, his face would fall and his words would fail. "I-I don't _have_ a name, Mabes."

"That's no good!" She shouted at him, angrier than she'd meant to sound. It startled him.

"Mabel sweetie, what's all the noise about?" her mother pushed open the door to her admittedly _too_ pink room.

"He doesn't have a name!" she pointed at her companion, momentarily forgetting adults couldn't see what she could.

"Oh, your little friend you told me about," Mom giggled, waving to where Mabel had pointed. Her friend waved back awkwardly before lifting that same hand to his face in a 'Ugh, so dumb' gesture. "Well, If he doesn't have a name-" the much larger human walked into the room, kneeling down next to Mabel and looking just over her friend's head thoughtfully. "-why not give him one?"

Mabel gasped. It was pure genius, though she felt her twin's mind reflect on how obvious it truly had been. There was only so much a five year old could come up with in the realm of common sense, and besides she was too busy being spontaneous and creative. Her attention refocused on Mom, "But what should I name him?"

"Something that just you know about, like loyalty or wisdom." Clearly Mom had an image of a unicorn or something when imagining him.

Mabel studied her companion for one heartbeat then another before leaping to her feet and exclaiming "Dipper!"

"W-what?"

"We learned about it in school, stars and stuff! He showed me constellations and told me their names last night. He's got one, the big dipper one, on his forehead. Dipper says it's a birthmark an-" Mabel's mother had a look of shock and deep sadness on her face, tears began to slip when she stood suddenly, jarring Mabel little body on accident. "-M-mommy? What's wrong?"

"N-nothing sweetie," she gave an incredibly pained smile, "it's a good name." She sniffed, covering her mouth with a hand, taking steps back towards the door. "M-m-mommy has to go now. You be a good girl an-and play with Dipper till I come back, o-okay Mabel?"

"Okay?" The door slammed shut as her mother sped out of her room. She looked at her newly named brother in fear, but he simply looked at the door, sadness permeating his face. "Dipper?"

He turned to smile at her, the sadness all washed away with a beaming smile. "Dipper, hu? Haha! I like it. Thank you Mabel." Dipper scooted over next to her and wrapped her in a hug, a big, warm, cuddly, bear hug.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Two years later, the terrible two were back at it with a new vigor. Dipper had discovered that if they concentrated enough he could move things. With constant practice Mabel quickly became a master multitasker. She would work on her crafts and Dipper would take every spare moment he could get to read, devouring information at impossible speeds. Sometimes she'd get bits and pieces of whatever he'd be learning about, so the random super smart things that popped into her head became the norm. Upon occasion the teachers would make a mistake or leave something out that Dipper felt was needed and Mabel found herself involuntarily lifting her arm so her twin could ask an inciteful question.

This ultimately lead to her become widely recognized as the smartest and simultaneously the most distracted girl in the school. Whatever she couldn't understand, Dipper helped her with in exchange for favors of his own, mostly comprising of books.

Another thing the twins quickly discovered was that Dipper's interactions with physical objects put strain on Mabel's body. This naturally made her companion nervous, not wanting to hurt her. As thing progressed another discovery came in increased stamina. Mabel became more active and physically capable, resistant to the draining energy Dipper used up, much like an athletic runner isn't winded by a brisk walk.

Between her increased hyperactivity and seeming inability to focus in school, her parents had her tested for ADHD. Dipper warned her not to let them put crazy drugs in her system but Mom and Dad only had her best interest in mind, right? On the day she took the medicine, all day in fact, she felt sluggish and nauseous. Dipper was blurry and also seemed really sick. She had her first nightmare that night. They vowed to each other to never let Mable take any mind altering substances again.

Her parents became very upset when she wouldn't take her medicine. When Mabel tried to explain that it made Dipper sick worry creased their faces. Not worry for Dipper, but for her. So, she was taken to a child psychologist;

* * *

"Now Mabel, be a good girl and answer all of the nice man's questions honestly, okay? He only wants to help you."

She nodded into her father's pant leg and slowly walked into a large room. Dipper, of course, hung by her side and just a little behind, also unsure of himself. Not what she needed right now, but as the older twin, it was her job to be brave.

"Hello," a friendly looking man with a friendly smile said to her. He was sitting at a big, wooden desk covered in papers and candy wrappers. Dipper mutter something about him being weird. "Please have a seat, Mabel." She took note of a large reclining chair, and with a little push from Dipper, manage to clamber into the seat. "Your parents have told me a lot about you, but I'd like to hear some from yourself. Is that alright?"

"Yep!" talking was something she was good at, "I'm Mabel. I'm seven years old. My favorite color is… all of them," She threw her hands up in the air excitedly, "I had a fishy when I was three and I'm the oldest by five minutes." Mabel extended her hand to show off the 'five' part of her previous statement.

The doctor arched an eyebrow, "Mabel, you're an only child."

"Nu uh!" she shook her head emphatically, hair splaying out, "I have a younger brother! He didn't have a name for a while but Mommy gave me some good advice. He's Dipper now, I came up with it myself."

The doctor seemed at a loss for words before regaining his composure. "Is Dipper here right now?" his voice was a low whisper, a playfully mischievous glint in his eye, like he thought it was some kind of secret.

"Yep!" she sung, swinging her legs back and forth. Her gaze met Dipper's and she smiled before exclaiming, "Do the thing!" Dipper smiled back at her and picked up a few papers from the desk. The doctor shot to his feet and Dipper raced around the older man's legs, laughing.

"Holy Snail Trail!" Okay so he didn't say that but Mabel preferred to think that's what he'd said. She didn't very much like swearing. More remarkable was the fact she'd actually learned it from some of the things Dipper had read, more grown up type mystery novels and such.

Speaking of Dipper, the phantasmal boy leapt up unto the doctor's desk and started ripping open draws and kicking wrappers off onto the floor. Generally making a fuss until Mabel shouted "That's enough Dipster! Cool it!"

The doctor, pale and shaking, walked hurriedly out of the office, shouting "Mr. Pines! Mr. Pines!"

"D-did I over do it?" Dipper stuttered, a little guilty about how badly he'd scared the psychologist. Mabel held up her fingers a tiny distance apart as an answer.

\/\/\/\\\/\/\/\/\/\/

Mabel cried for days, refusing to leave her room. Dipper cried to, or what passed for crying since he'd neither tear ducts, nor anything else in the way of a physical body for that matter. They'd been left the only way parents could leave permanently. Her father wanted to make it work, and it had for a time. Until she was twelve, but something in her mother never was quite right. She didn't understand what was happening and Dipper wouldn't tell her. The Pines family had gone on for five years in a limbo of sorts and Mom just… snapped.

She'd seen it all because she'd asked Dipper to follow their parents. He was there in the back seat when Mom, crying, and Dad swearing, trying desperately to open the car door, drove of a cliff. Her father didn't want to leave but her mother couldn't bear to go on, and refused to leave this world alone.

Dipper set a plate down in front of her, it was late, two in the morning late, and child services was desperate to get her out. She only unlocked the door for Dipper when he had food, he didn't need the door opened otherwise, and he was her look out when she had to go to the bathroom. They'd managed to stay like this for a week.

There was a pounding on her door, the psychologist's voice, the one from before, came through, sad and cracked. "Mabel sweetie, I know you can hear me. You're very clever asking Dipper to help you but you need to come out now. I'm worried about you. Dipper is probably worrying himself sick over you too!"

She looked at her brother, guilt and sadness flashing over his face. He knelt down next to her. "Here," he murmured handing her a piece of bread from the plate, "you need to eat or you'll get worse, please."

"Dipper, do you want to leave?"

"Yes."

She looked up at him, ignoring whatever the man outside had been saying. Really, really looked at him with his big brown eyes, glowing slightly red and puffy looking from the not-tears. His image reflected his feelings, conjured hat pulled down over his brow slightly. It would have shadowed his features if lighting could effect him. His normally healthy blueish glow had been replaced by a sickly purple color and it stung Mabel to realize just what she'd been doing to him. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." He hugged her and she munched on the bread furiously, hunger finally replacing grief's emptiness. Her twin's warmth radiating through her chilled body and she shivered, snuggling into his not-really-there-but-still-kinda-there chest. "Let's go somewhere without any walls, someplace open and forest-y, hu? Wouldn't that be good, Mabes?" She nodded, new tears streaming down her face. Tears that were happy despite all the sad, because she knew that the whole world could go to hell around her, but she'd never _ever_ have to face it alone.

The door opened painfully slow, but it was the best Dipper could do. A week of hardly eating, not sleeping, and constant crying had left them both running on empty. Mabel realized just how thin she was when she saw her reflection in the hall mirror. They learned an important lesson then, Mabel ate, slept, and loved for both herself and Dipper.

The doctor dropped to his knees despite being a bit on the old side and scooped her up in his arms. He too was crying. "Oh thank God! I-I was so… so- oh thank you! Thank you for being alright!" She didn't understand really why he was so happy, looking to Dipper for an answer like she always did.

"He became Dad's friend while they were working through all of the crazy cool stuff we can do. Dr. McGukin also knows our great uncle Ford. He's a paranormal expert and we were going to spend the summer at his cabin before Mom-" He cut himself off, eyes wide. Mabel nodded in silent thanks.

"Dr. McGukin, sir," she whispered hoarsely, "can I go live with great uncle Ford?"

"A-are you sure you'd rather not live with your grandparents?"

She shook her head, if Dipper knew that Ford was a paranormal expert than he'd be the only one who would understand. "I want to see the trees," she wasn't lying because that's what her twin wanted which made it what she wanted. Something told her that where there was a cabin, there was a forest.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Here we are, Mabes." Dipper poked her cheek, stirring her out of sleep. "Gravity Falls, the weirdest town in America and look at all the pine trees!" She blinked a few time, looking through her twin's head at the world beyond the car window. There were indeed a lot of pine trees. Her focus shifted onto Dipper himself as he took off his projected hat turning over the camo pattern in his hands. "I think a change of style's in order, how 'bout you?" With a flick the fabric shimmered, warping colors into a light blue and white, his signature star replaced by a blue pine tree.

She smiled at him and he grinned back. Though her heart was still heavy, Dipper's buoyant exuberance kept her afloat. He would always be there to keep her up so she could be the pillar for other's to lean on. That was just the kindhearted person she was.

The car bumped, jolting her fully awake and out of her listless thoughts. They were on a dirt road, chugging up a hill. McGuckin gave a nervous laugh, "I haven't been up here in a _long_ time. Ford and I used to be friends y'know. I… I -uh, left for personal reasons. Wonder if he got a new assistant since I've moved to the city…"  
"Look! Look!" Dipper chirped excitedly from the seat next to her. A large cabin rose from a clearing, the words 'Mystery Shack' propped up on a sign affixed to the roof, the 'S' in shack had fallen off. A man in a black suit with glasses and a weird fez was waving at them from the porch. He had a cane with an eight ball grip in his other hand. His visage was altogether happy, but Dipper said he had a bad feeling about him.

Dr. McGuckin helped her get what little belongings she had out of the trunk. Fortunately Dad had the foresight to leave all her parent's owned to her, meaning that Dipper's book had been safe from governmental tax confiscation. With the doctor acting as her legal guardian in the interim, the house had been put up for sale and everything that she didn't need or hadn't the use for was sold or put into a storage box. The money was put into a grant for her college education with the necessary withdraws to maintain the storage rent. This meant that aside from her twin's books and her own clothes, craft supplies, ect, nothing from their old life came with them.

"Heya, kid!" the old man on the front step greeted them, or more specifically Mabel. He couldn't see Dipper either. "Welcome to Gravity Falls. Ford's inside waiting for you. I'm Stanlie by the way, but you can call me Grunkle Stan." He took a few paces to the car and began to pick up some of her bags, "Here, let me help with that, Doc."

"Nice to see you again, Stan."

"Please, don't lie," the fez wearing man responded flatly, "you're an awful liar."

"You're right," he bit back. "Why are you here, Stan. I thought you and Ford hated each other."

"Oh, that." He slipped the cane under his arm, "An experiment went horribly wrong, I set up shop here after he called me about it. Took me twenty years but I got him back. Ford and I are still on rough terms but we're working on patching things up. It's not been easy, but we got someone else to take care of now so our squabbling isn't the most pressing issue."

"That's… very mature of you."

"I'm old now McGucket, and so are you. We run out of excuses to be childish when we're old."

Dipper held Mabel's hand in his own as they walked in. The shack was old and crammed full of fake supernatural attractions that she found interesting to look at. Stan announced that the attic space was her's and his room was down the steps at the end of the hall. Ford had a lab underneath the shack where the real weird and sciency stuff happened and that she should steer clear. Apparently it was incredibly dangerous. She waved good-bye to Dr. McGuckin after all of her things had been taken inside. The doctor had been reluctant to leave, slipping her his card in case she ever needed anything.

Once she was settled, with Dipper's help moving things around, Mabel scurried downstairs, determined to find friends and a boyfriend over the course of the upcoming summer. Dipper rolled his eyes at her teasingly. This was a big ending, but aren't all big endings just the start of something new?

 **Okay, so that got depressing towards the middle. I'm not sure I want to continue this story but I just like the idea of one of the sibs being a ghost a la Beyond: Two Souls.** **This is an AU if you couldn't tell** **. And yes,** ** _if_** **I keep writing this Lil' Gideon will make an appearance...so, on that note, I'd like to say this story is actually meant to seed ideas in other's minds. SophiaCrutchfeild contacted me the day of this post actually and we've been talking about her adopting it. I think I'll still be on as beta for the story but she'll be posting it from now on. (I'll keep a copy on my tumblr just in case I feel like taking it up again after she's done)**


End file.
